


The Magic of Dust

by chocolatefrogsandtealeaves



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: 1st year to 7th year, Alternate Universe - Daemons, Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials Fusion, Daemons, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/M, Hogwarts, Long Shot, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Slow Burn, The Marauders - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22155865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocolatefrogsandtealeaves/pseuds/chocolatefrogsandtealeaves
Summary: The story of the Marauders as they go through all 7 years at Hogwarts. However this take place in a universe where your soul manifests as a daemon. Which is a magical animal that is apart of you and cannot be separated from you.
Relationships: Andromeda Black Tonks/Ted Tonks, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Lucius Malfoy & Narcissa Black Malfoy, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	1. Aboard the Hogwarts Express

**Author's Note:**

> For those who did not read His Dark Materials, daemons can transform between different animal representations when you are young, but will eventually find a final form when you grow up.
> 
> Daemons usually express what you are feeling deep down and are extensions of the people they are tied to.
> 
> also I edit nothing so good luck if you want to follow this till the end. lots of spelling mistakes

Sirius

“MOOOOOTHEEERRRRRR SIRIUS IS DOING IT AGAIN!”

Sirius heard his brother Regulus yell as he ran down the stairs towards the day room to fetch mother. Tattle tale he thought to himself. 

“Hurry up before she comes, at least if you’re at the bottom you can deny it” Puddles his daemon said slithering from his arm to the banister. Puddles was currently a King Snake and his red band stood out in great contrast to the dusty green and dark black wood that made up the dingy dark stairwell of the Nobel and Most Ancient house of Black. 

“Ok” Sirius said and he swing his leg up over the handrail and took a deep breath. He looked down the 5 stories of twisting staircases, It looked higher when he was perched on the edge. He steadied himself and then pushed off sliding down in circles as the staircase twisted magically to keep him from turning too sharp and flying off at one of the landings. Puddles slithered down the banister after him laughing as he went. He managed to pick up more sped then he anticipated and by the time he got to the last floor he couldn’t stop himself. 

“SLOW DOWN!” Puddles yelled turning into a small fish crow to fly down after him faster. 

Too late Sirius thought before he flew of the end and rolled into the hallway scraping his back across the carpet. Sirius then collapsed sprawled out on the floor. Man, that was a rush, totally worth the bruise. Puddles landed ontop of his chest and instantly turned into a fluffy back dog tail wagging furiously. 

“That was awesome. Why don’t we do that to come downstairs everyday?” Puddles said.

Sirius was about to reply exactly why they didn’t when he heard the unmistakable sound of clacking heels heading towards them. The person who was the exact reason he didn’t do it every morning. Sirius jumped up quickly trying to look nonchalant and bent down to pick up Puddles who on que turned back into a King Snake and slithered up his sleeve just in time for Regulus and his mother to turn the corner. 

“Hello Mother. I was… ummm… Just headed upstairs to change for supper” Sirius said trying to control his breathing so it wouldn’t sound like he was panting.

“Where is Pudicitiam?” His mother demanded. Pudicitiam was the name his parents had given his daemon when he first appeared when Sirius was 4 and a half. Pudicitiam meant ‘Pure’, something his parents had chosen because of a the Black family motto ‘Toujours Pur’. Sirius hated the name and the motto. He didn’t fall for the nonsense that pureblood were superior like he was constantly told. He also didn’t appreciate the Black family tradition of parents naming both their children and their daemons. As far as he knew that tradition was pure Black. 

Walburga regarded him up and down. She was a tall thin women with a thick dark dress that stretched to the floor with long sleeves and a turtleneck that went all the way up to her chin. Her dark hair was pulled back tight into a high bun. Her presence was haunting and intimidating. It was also exasperated by the King Cobra daemon that slithered up beside her and hissed at him in displeasure. Sirius held out his arm and Puddles slithered out slowly keeping cautious eyes on Insignus, his mother’s Cobra. Having not caught him in the act she didn’t seem to have much to yell at him about. 

Snakes were commonly the daemons of pure blood families. That tradition was common across Europe. Sirius was told ever since his daemon appeared that snake daemons signified superiority, intelligence and power. The greatest wizards of all time, Salazar Slytherin, Merlin, Grindelwald, The Minister for Magic, and anyone who was of any importance all had snake daemons. Stories even said Salazar Slytherins’ daemon was a Basilisk the most powerful snake of all. So from a very young age his parents made sure his daemon stayed as a snake, because a Black heir with anything but a snake for a daemon would be disgraceful.

Unfortunately Puddles hated staying as a snake, and whenever he was alone Puddle would usually transform into a small shaggy black dog. A few times when he got upset or angry Puddles would change without notice and his mother would get angry and usually punish him, especially is company was around. 

“Very well, go wash up and put on some nicer clothes. Uncle Cygnus and the girls are coming for dinner to celebrate you going off to school tomorrow.” 

And with that dismissal Sirius quickly as he could without running scurried up the stairs.

He didn’t notice until he got to the second landing that Regulus was following him into his room.

Sirius let him in, closed the door then turned on him. 

“Why do you always have to run to mother?”

“You could have hurt yourself” Regulus said crossing his arms in anger. Sirius saw Nobella Regulus’ Smooth greens snake daemon poke his head out of Regulus’ collar tongue out sensing the air. She then whispered something in his ear and Regulus made a scrunched face.

“I’m sorry, I’m just upset you are leaving tomorrow, and I’m going to be all alone” Regulus said with a bit of a whine.

Sirius rolled his eyes. 

“You won’t be alone. I’ll write to you everyday. And then next year you’ll be coming with me.”

Regulus looked at his feet but stayed quiet as if he had no retort.

“Come on, you can wear my favorite velvet robes to dinner. I’ll ever tie your tie” Sirius said reaching out to pull Regulus to his closet to try and cheer him up. As much as Regulus annoyed him he couldn’t stand to see his baby brother upset. 

He would miss Regulus but he was too excited to go to Hogwarts to saying much else. He instead spent the rest of the night playing pranks on Bella and Cissy to keep Regulus smiling. Hopefully that would make up for it.

James

“James stop bouncing like that” 

James’ mother scolded him as he stared up in awe at the glistening maroon train in front of him spilling steam onto the platform. Students and parents were running around greeting one another, pulling trunks onto the train and hugging their parent’s goodbye. Beside him Bahaadur was impatiently stepping in spot like he couldn’t wait to get on the train. James reached down and patted his back to calm him. His golden fur was soft to the touch. Today Bahaadur was a lion, and although he didn’t have a mane James thought he looked impressive non the less. He was proud of his daemon, when he was close and excited it made him feel 10 times more confident. 

His mom knelt down in front of him. “Did you pack your extra jumper?”

“Yes”

“Your extra trainers?”

“Yes”

“Your extra set of quills and ink?”

“ummmmm… maybe” James said with an innocent smile.

His mom tutted at him.

“Don’t worry we’ll send them along in the mail” She said pulling him into a hug.

James blushed feeling embarrassed but hugged her back. She smelled of spices and freshly made bread. Beside him Sahaanubhooti (or Hooti for short) his moms swan daemon place her head on Bahaadur’s back in a farewell. When they finally broke apart his father came up and clapped him on the shoulder. 

“You make us proud son.” Then he bent down and hugged him too. Raksha his tiger daemon then took his turn nuzzling into Bahaadur in his own farewell. When he stood up he said “The house is going to be so quiet with you gone.”

His mother laughed at that. “The elves will be bored with all the idle time.”

The train whistle blew, and the crowd stated forward. 

“Oh you better hurry or you’ll miss the train” His father said guiding him forward.

James got onto the train and his father levitated his trunk in after him.

“Make sure to write at least once a week” His mother called waving.

“And stay out of trouble.” His father called.

And with that the train pulled out of the station. And the last view James had of his parents was them waving to him on the steamy platform.

Now by himself in the busy train hallway James was feeling a little worried. He had never been apart from his parents for more than 24 hours and now he was on his own. Bahaadur was now in his young stag form and his legs wobbled a little, which to James showed he too was worried. Bahaadur leaned against his leg either to comfort him or to comfort himself. Either way James appreciated the gesture. 

James looked down at Bahaadur and Bahaadur looked up at him and together they said “ Maybe we should find some first years to share a trolley with?”

Sirius

After Creature, the Balck family house elf, came back from bringing his trunk on board Sirius ran onto the train as fast as he could. He heard his mom calling after him but Sirius was so close to freedom that he couldn’t hold himself back. The only thing he heard was his mother shouting that he should write home before the end of the week and to remember not to consort with halfbloods. He also heard his father say something along the lines of coming home for Christmas, but both things he promptly ignored. He took off down the train corridor away from the carriage he knew Creature left his stuff, the same carriage his cousins would soon be coming to sit in. Sirius didn’t want to be around when they got on or he might get stuck with them the whole train ride. He made it through 2 carriages before the train started moving, by the third it was full steam ahead and the crowd who were waving out the windows started to disperse. When he got to the 3 carriage he was full running through the halls dodging people. Puddles was running beside him now in his black dog form which he changed into once they were out of sight of any Black family members, jumping over trunks and weaving between legs to keep up with Sirius. 

He was almost to the door to the last train car when he accidently lost his footing a bit and slammed into someone, sending them both tumbling. 

“BLOODY HELL!” The person shouted as he collided with him. 

“Shit, Sorry mate” Sirius said quickly getting back up and offering the stranger his hand to help him up. 

The guy looked his age. He had dark brown skin and spiky messy black hair and round glasses on. The guy looked both confused and irritated but took his hand none the less and Sirius helped him up. 

“Sorry” He said again. “I was just trying to get away from my cousins.”

“No problem” The boy said. “You a first year?”

“Ya, you?”

“Ya. I’M James, James Potter, and this is Bahaadur” He said gesturing to the young stag standing beside him.

Puddles walked up to Bahaadur and sniffed at him, apparently, he liked what he smelled because he lowered his front and began wagging his tail like he wanted to play. Puddle never took to anyone’s daemon so quick before, so Sirius took that as a good sign. Plus, he knew the name Potter. His mother said the Potters were blood traitors, but Sirius knew enough about the intensive pureblood family tree he was forced to memorize to know the Potters were still pure blooded. So technically he was still obeying his mother’s orders. 

“I’m Sirius, Sirius Black.” Sirius said offering his hand out for a shake. “And this is ummm….”

Sirius was about to say Puddles, but knew that would sound stupid and thus make him look stupid. But he wasn’t about to call Puddles Pudicitiam either, since then he would look super stupid as well as a prat. Quickly he tried to think of a name.

“Uhh. This is Fidèlami” 

“Cool. Umm if you’re a Black why is your daemon a dog?” 

“Oh ummmmm” Sirius rubbed the back of his head. “I’m not really fond of snakes. Mother hates when ummm Fidèlami looks like this, but she isn’t here so…” Sirius trailed off unsure what to say.

“No problem. I hate snaked too” James said scrunching his nose. “Anyway let’s find a car no point hanging around in the hallway” 

Sirius followed James back into the very last cart and they searched for an empty car. They were all full except the very last one which had 4 people inside with two spare seats left. The four people inside looked about their age so James and him decided to go in.

Remus

Remus was so nervous he could barely hear to train whistle blow from the platform. He only got on just in time when his mom let him go from a big long hug and his father quickly ran him to the train to get one just in time. Once alone Remus went straight to the very back compartment. He was hoping he could stay solitary so as to not run into anyone. He had never been around any wizards, or muggle, let alone anyone his age. His parents kept him at home not only to keep him safe and secret, but also for the safety of others.

Remus understood why they did it. He was dangerous. Remus was a werewolf, and if anyone found out he would be in big trouble. Not only could he hurt someone if he got loose on a full moon, but the ministry would also take him away from his family to love under more ‘secure’ conditions. Remus didn’t know what these conditions were, but he really didn’t want to find out. The only thing worse than being taken away to a more ‘secure’ place would be if he accidentally hurt someone during the full moon. Then he would be ‘put down’, at least that’s what the ministry called it. So, Remus made the decision to take his father’s advice and stay away from others, and not get too close to anyone. If someone figured out what he was they would tell someone, then he would be in a lot of trouble, and Professor Dumbledore would get into trouble as well. 

Remus never thought he would be able to attend Hogwarts. And if it wasn’t for Dumbledore he wouldn’t. He remembered when Dumbledore came to his house to give him his letter. His parents were so scared, they were especially scared when they found out Dumbledore knew what he was. But it turned out Dumbledore didn’t care. He offered Remus a place in his school for magic and reassure both him and his parents Remus would be safe. He would have a safe place to transform, a hospital to spend his days in after transforming and a matron to help heal him. It seemed too good to be true, yet here he was on his way to school. Remus really didn’t want to mess this up. 

He sat by himself with Ileuad with daemon in his lap, gently petting her as he read his copy of Hogwarts: A History. She was currently in her Cotton Tail Rabbit form, which she stayed in most of the time. Having her close and warm against him helped calm his nerves. Ileuad was usually a quiet daemon, but today she was eerily quiet. Remus though this probably had to do with the fact they were both very scared for what lied ahead. So to calm his nerves he pulled out a book and began to read occasionally reading out cool facts to her. She simply nodded and nuzzled in closer to his chest.

Unfortunately shortly after he settled in 3 people had joined the compartment. A small Red head with bright green eyes and a mourning dove daemon on her shoulder. A think long nosed kid with dark greasy hair and tattered robes just like Remus’ with a small brown bat daemon clinging to his collar, and a bring blonde chubby boy with pink cheeks and blue eyes with a. chubby racoon daemon. They quickly introduced themselves as Lily, Severus, and Peter, and their daemons, Curant, Potio, and Aspecta, before Remus smiled and went back to his reading. However, he noticed Ileuad secretly listening to their conversation seemingly curious as Remus continued reading. 

'This is fine. They mind their business ill mind mine and it’ll be perfectly ok.' Remus thought. 

He just got to a chapter on the founders when the compartment door slammed open. The boy named Peter jumped at the loud crash, but Severus and Lily continued on with their heated conversation. Remus glanced over his book and the two boys took their seats and introduced themselves to Peter. The boy beside him was named James and his deer daemon was named Bahaadur. James had Messy black hair, that he kept making more messy by running his hand through it, and a mischievous smile that looked like he was ready to set something to explode. The by who sat down beside Peter also had Black hair, but his was longer and well groomed, pulled back with a black silk ribbon. His eyes were also grey not brown like James’. His name was Sirius Black, and his furry black dog daemon was named Fidèlami or Fid for short apparently They both wore expensive looking robes that weren’t Hogwarts issued meaning they were both probably from rich wizarding families. Peter eagerly started talking with them. Remus went back to his book.

He finished the chapter on the brief history of the founders and started a chapter on the magical architecture of Hogwarts. 

'The grand staircase of Hogwarts contains 52 sets of moving staircases which provide access to the 13 floors of the castle. 54 sets on Wednesdays, and 50 during lunar eclipses. It is unknown who initially charmed the staircases to move of their own free will, however many historical documents rumoured is was the founder Rowena Ravenclaw who initially magicked them to life. There is currently no way to determine the pattern in which the staircases may move'. Remus read.

He was however distracted when the boy beside him suddenly seemed to shout at the greasy bg nosed boy .

“Why would you want to be in Slytherin. Who wants to be a dirty great snake” 

The greasy hair boy turned slowly to face James, his face was blank but his eyes seemed to fill with hate.

Ileuda discreetly nudged him to look at James who’s daemon was now the form of a lion who was posed aggressively on the set next to him staring at Severus and his daemon who’s daemon had changed into a snake now slowly circling his upper arm hissing as Snape replied back in a cold tone.

“Let me guess. You think you’ll be a Gryfindor.”

“I don’t think I know. Only brave and daring people get into Gryfindor”

“Not to mention stupid and foolhardy” Severus said with a sneer.

James stood up so quickly Remus almost dropped his book to wrap his arms around Ileuda. But Sirius stood up too and put his hand on James’s chest. 

“He’s not worth it. Plus if yu hit him your fist would just get covered in grease” Sirius said pushing James back a little. But Remus noticed that although Sirius’ voice was talking James down his Daemon’s hair was standing on end and he was growling and baring his teeth at Severus. 

“Leave Severus alone you prats” The girl named Lily said standing up. 

“Oooooh getting your girlfriend to defend you Snivellous” Sirius taunted. 

Lilt ignored this and grabbed Severus’ hand. “Come on, let’s find another compartment. Maybe one with better smelling people in it” And she pulled Severus out of the compartment after her. 

Once gone both James and Sirius sat back down. James huffed out seemingly irritated and Sirius laughed a bit like a mad man. Soon the car fell silent again.

After a few second Peter broke the silence. 

“So we know what house James want to get into. What about you Sirius?”


	2. Welcome to Hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys arrive at Hogwarts and get sorted.

Peter

Peter felt a little intimidated going to Hogwarts. Not because he was worried about being bad at school, but more because he was worried about fitting in. Growing up the was often teased by local kids for being, weird, or fat, or both. His mother always told him that other kids were just jealous because they were silly muggles who didn’t understand how special he was. Peter didn’t believe this though, he knew he was teased because he was different. When he got his letter he was excited because he thought he would now get to be around other kids just like himself, and he could finally make some friends, but fear crept back in slowly when he got onto the platform and saw that muggle children and wizard children seemed to be exactly the same. His mother however told him that he would soon be sorted and then he would make friends in his house and not to worry. She said any other boy would be lucky to have him as a friend. She reminded him to stay polite and kind, and to share the sweets on the train, before kissing him farewell with tears in her eyes.

The first two first years he ran into didn’t seem interested in making friends. Well the boy named Severus didn’t seem interested, his friend Lily was kind and even talked to him about how excited she was, but her Severus quickly distracted her and left Peter out of the conversation. 

Then the boy in the car had only said hello before going back to his book, and Peter was starting to fell put out. Maybe making friends wasn’t something he was going to be able to do. He was about to get up and go look for somewhere else to sit when Sirius and James came in. Peter knew immediately they were purebloods, there robes and accents said it all. Plus, one was a Black. Everyone in the wizarding world knew the Blacks, his mother often told him that the Blacks came into the antic shop she worked in looking for rare books, and magical objects. Well, technically they sent others to find these objects for them, but none the less the Blacks were wealthy and powerful. Peter was super nervous, but the one named James had actually struck up conversation with him and Sirius joined in too. They were much nicer than Peter thought they would be. His mother once told him purebloods only consorted with other purebloods, and to try and not get on their bad sides. He also vaguely recalled him mom’s boss once saying the Blacks were crazy, completely mad in the head, probably because of the inbreeding. However, Talking to Sirius and James Peter didn’t get this impression. Maybe his mom had been mistaken. 

After the altercation he was starting to feel awkward again. But if anyone was good at breaking tension it was him. Aspecta nudged him with her elbow to encourage him. Peter knew what she was thinking. ‘Go on. Make friends’. So Peter did exactly that. 

“So we know what house James want to get into. What about you Sirius?”

Sirius looked at him and blinked. He looked upset and Pete was worried maybe he shouldn’t have asked. But then Sirius broke into a smile that reminded him a little of the look the crazy old man who lived above his mom’s flat. Maybe that was the madness his mom was talking about.

“I’m not sure. My whole family have been in Slytherin for decades. But I don’t think I want to go into Slytherin. I think I’m going to try for Gryffindor. Man, that’s going to give my mother a heart attack.” Sirius said with an excited voice. 

James smiled at him approvingly. 

“What about you Pete?” James asked.

“Ohhh I don’t know” Peter looked over at Aspecta who was now munching away on a licorice strand she pulled out of his pocket. She shrugged, showing she had no idea what house they would be put in. 

“My mom was a Hufflepuff, no idea what my dad was, but I would be happy in anything but Slytherin.”

“Nothing wrong with Hufflepuff” James said. “Not as great as Gryffindor, but Hufflepuffs are cool. Plus, your dorm would be right beside the kitchens so that’s a bonus”

“How do you know where the kitchens are already?” Sirius questioned.

“My dad told me. He wouldn’t tell me how to find it or get in, but he said to start looking by the Hufflepuff common room.”

“Wow your dad sounds cool.” Sirius said. “My dad just told me to stay out of trouble and listen to my cousins”

“How many cousins do you have?” Peter asked genuinely interested. Maybe Sirius would have insight into how the sorting happened, or how Hogwarts was.

“Umm well from the first cousins I have 3. Andromeda, Narcissa, and Bellatrix. Andy’s in her 6th year, Sissy is in her 4th year and Bella is in her second. There all Slytherins’, but Andy’s the only one I like. Sissy is a bore, and Bella is a phycho. She once pushed me out a window into the garden because I called her ugly. Worth it though”

Both Peter and James laughed.

“Hey do you guys like Bertie Bots Every flavour beans?” Peter asked pulling out the giant box his mom gave him out of his bag. 

“YES!” James said.

“Never had them” Sirius confessed but scooted closer to look at the box.

They shared the beans and the conversation continued along the lines about houses and sorting. James kept speculating how they sorted them. He seemed to think they were probably going to have to fight each other even though none of them knew and magic yet. Sirius put his bet on some sort of blood test potion. Peter thought both these were probably not likely, but his mother didn’t tell him how the sorting happened so for all he knew maybe they were right. 

The boy named Remus who sat across from them by the window snorted in laughter right after James suggested some sort of obstacle course. They all looked over at him but he kept his eyes on his book. 

His daemon a small rabbit peaked out at them from under Remus’s arm but didn’t say anything. She seemed more curious than mocking. 

James and Sirius looked at the boy curiously probably trying to figure out if he was laughing at something he read, or he was laughing at them. Then Sirius’s daemon Fid quietly jumped down off the train seat and slowly walked over to the reading boy and his daemon. 

Ileuda stayed still but sniffed a little as Fid got close. Fid’s tail was wagging and he sniffed aggressively at the rabbit then he launched forward and ran his slobbery wet tongue across the rabbit’s face. The rabbit jumped up and let out a disgusted “Eck” before jumping up on the boys shoulders and started rubbing her face into his faded patched robes. Remus dropped his book and scrunched his face in displeasure. He rubbed his face to probably out of sympathy. 

“Haliwr!” The boy swore in Welsh. “What in Merlin’s name was that for?”

“Ahhh so he does talk” Sirius said with a laugh. 

Fid was now on the seat beside Remus trying to get to Ileuda again tail wagging. Ileaud was having none of it and crawled down into Remus’s jumper. Remus went to pick up his book but James got to it first.

“Hogwarts: A History.” James read. “Cool, does it say how the sorting happens?” He asked handing Remus back the book.

Remus took the book back carefully and scanned James with bright amber eyes. This was the first time Peter got a good look at them and they made him nervous for some reason. He suddenly felt as if Remus was the most dangerous person in the room, even with a cute little bunny for a daemon. They seemed to glow, like a candle placed very far at the end of a hall. It was made worse by the scars that ran across his face one new and other indifferent stages of healing.

Remus hesitated but then answered with a short quiet “Yes”

“So? Care to share in your knowledge stranger?” James coaxed.

Remus just frowned his lips thin and tightly shut and looked at James. He didn’t look upset, but sadder. Or maybe that’s just how he looked normally. Remus didn’t answer but his daemon stuck her head out of the neck of the jumper and spoke.

“We’ll tell you for one of those chocolate frogs” She said looking over at Peter’s bags bag which was open a little showing the top of a chocolate frog box.

James smiled and reached above to his own trunk and pulled out 4 jumbo sized chocolate frogs. “Deal”

James passed everyone a box, including Remus. Remus took it carefully. He broke off a piece and gave it to Ileauda. Then Ileauda nudged his chin with her nose encouraging him to talk. 

“I’ll tell you but you gotta keep your dog on a leash” Remus said to James with a more light hearted voice, gesturing to Sirius. 

“Deal. Down boy” James joked lightly smacking Sirius on the nose with an empty chocolate frog bog. Sirius pouted but smiled and feigned being sad. Fid came back over and began wrestling with Bahaadur on the floor.

The three boys turned towards Remus eagerly.

“Ummm apparently Godric Gryffindor enchanted his hat to sort people into the houses.”

“Cool so like how does a hat do that?”

“Ummm I’m not sure. Maybe it reads your mind?”

“It’s a hat, it can’t read minds.”

“Maybe it transforms depending on the house?”

“Well I guess we’ll find out tonight”

Sirius 

Sirius was nervous. They had spent the train ride eating an ungodly amount of candy and joking the whole way. Sirius really liked the new friends he had made. Even Remus once they got him to actually talk with them. He had enough creative swear words to put a dragon tamer to shame. James was a riot. He was the funniest guy Sirius had ever met. He wasn’t like the other pure blood guys his age he often had to hang out with at social events. James didn’t care what others thought of him and instead of trying to always out do everyone he instead just enjoyed himself and tried to make everyone laugh. Peter too was awesome. He looked quiet and awkward, but his funny comebacks were always perfectly timed.

By the time they had changed into their school robes and the train was pulling into the station Sirius was getting nervous. Even though he didn’t want to end up in Slytherin he was starting to worry about not having a choice. His whole family had always been placed in Slytherin.  
If this mythical hat knew that then he might not have a choice. 

This stayed in the back of his mind the whole time they debarked. He forgot for a little bit when they met the old hunched game keeper whose name was Ogg and his dirty matted chipmunk daemon. Beside him was his assistan,t a giant size man with big bushy hair and beard with a terrifyingly large boarhound daemon. They led all the first years down to the lake and they boarded boats to cross the water to get to school, which was apparently a tradition for first years. Being on the water was freezing cold, and beside him Remus shivered and hugged his daemon closer. 

Fid was so excited his whole butt swung as he wagged his tail as he sat between his legs and stared up at the castle. Fid hadn’t shown any desire to change back into a King Snake since they arrived and both he and Sirius were super happy with the new name Sirius picked out for him. It was sort of freeing naming his own daemon, he truly didn’t understand why he and other Blacks weren’t allowed to do it. It helped him relate more to Fid.

Getting out of the lake James was so excited him and Bahaadur jumped out of the boat so quick and aggressive poor Peter who was standing up at the same time fell out of the boat into the cold water when it violently shook side to side. Luckily Hagrid came over and helped him back up with one large hand. James spent the walk up to the castle apologizing profusely. Peter said it was alright but shivered until the entered the warm entrance hall of the school. 

The castle was jaw dropping. It was nothing like the castle he had been in growing up. His grandfather’s castle in France had been dark and claustrophobic. Filled with thick tapestries and, rugs, and art pieces that Sirius and Regulus had to tiptoe around for fear of breaking any and encoring the wrath of his parents. Other manors and castles were the same. But Hogwarts was open and warm. The walls seemed to only echo laughter. And the air tingled with magic. 

They were led to a set of huge ornate oak doors and told to wait. After some time the door opened a little and an witch came out. She was dressed in a large set of black robes with a pointed witches hat over her greying hair which was pulled back into a tight bun. She wore a tartan scarf around her neck and her Tabby cat daemon sat beside her regarded all of them with lamp like eyes. 

“Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor McGonagall. I am the assistant Headmistress of this school.” She said with a slight Scottish brough. “In a moment you will be led through these doors and sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. While you are here your house will be your home. Your triumphs will earn you point, and any rile breaking will lose point. At the end of the year the house with the most points will win the house cup. Any questions?”

The crowd of nervous students stayed quiet. Professor McGonagall survey them all with a thin smile. Then she caught sight of Peter.

“Pettigrew why are you soaking wet?” she asked sounding stern. Sirius had no idea how she knew his name, but she did.

Peter’s mouth gaped open, but no sound came out.

James instead answered for him.

“He fell in the lake Professor”

McGonagall turned to him. “Well we can’t eat dinner soaking wet, now can we” She waved her wand and instantly Peters clothes dried and radiated heat. Peter sighed happily. Beside him Aspecta tuned into a large brown rat and ran up his leg to get inside his now warm robes.

“Next time Mr. Potter you will allow Mr. Pettigrew to answer for himself. Now straighten up all of you. And come along.”

James  
The hall was awe inspiring , candles floated all over the hall above 4 long wooden table filled almost entirely with students all in seas of black robes with pops of colour from their house ties. The ceiling was shining with twinkly stars and a swirling galaxy which seemed to mirror the sky outside but brighter. At the front of the room a long table sat on a raised dais where all the professors sat surveying the hall. 

After the initial shock of the seeing the hall for the first time James was solely focused on the old dusty wizard’s hat sitting on a simple wooden stool ahead of them. 

It didn’t seem magical. It was just and old dusty hat. McGonagall went up to it and was talking but James wasn’t listening, he was staring at the hat both confused and afraid. Then McGonagall pulled out a parchment and read out the first name.  
“Avery, Nathan”  
Nathan, a tall stocky boy with short cropped brown hair went forward and sat on the chair. McGonagall picked up the hat and placed it on top of his head. The thing was so big it fell down over his ear and eyes. He sat there for a while in silence. The whole school had eyes on him.

“SLYTHERIN!”

The voice boomed across the hall as a slit opened in the hat like a mouth. The table on the far left broke into cheers and applause. 

Avery took the hat off, handed it to professor McGonagall and ran to the cheering table.

“Black, Sirius” McGonagall called.

Beside him James saw Sirius freeze. Fid had shrunk into a small banded snake and was crawling up Sirius’s leg to his robes sleeve. Sirius stayed put and James pat him on the back.

“It’ll be fine mate. No matter where you go.” James said happening to help Sirius in his fear. Sirius then stepped forward slowly. The hall was silent again but it seemed as if more people had bothered to turn and pay attention to Sirius’ sorting. James understood this. He also grew up hearing about the Blacks, one of the most powerful pure blood families of the sacred 28.

Fid was now tightly wound around Sirius’s hand as if he was holding his hand. Sirius sat down with perfect posture befitting of his upbringing. McGonagall placed the hat on his head and as soon as it touched his head it didn’t need a moment to ponder.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

When the hat came off Sirius’ face turned from blank to pure happiness. However, the clapping from the Gryffindor table was delay, and once it began it was muddles with whispers coming from the Slytherin table. Sirius didn’t seem to care though. He jumped up and punch the air triumphantly. Fid instantly feel out of his hand and landed and a big black shaggy dog who barked so loud and jumped so high some 1st years jumped back. The hall erupted in laughter at this display. Sirius ran over to the Gryffindor table and sat down beside some confused looking but smiling prefects.

James wolf whistled from his spot in celebration. It took fair longer for the crowd to calm down this time since most people where now whispering loudly with each other about what happened. Eventually when it quieted McGonagall began again. A lot few more students went up and got sorted. After a few “Evans, Lily” was called up and the red headed girl from the train went. The dove daemon was now a Butterfly sitting in her hair like a giant beret. She was eventually sorted to Gryffindor much to James’ dismay. She didn’t sit down next to Sirius though, and instead chose the further seat she could get to him.

After almost half the students had gone, they called “Lupin, Remus”  
Remus went up a looking pale and sick, He sat down and the hat went completely over his eyes and nose.

The hat paused for a long time. James was worried since this was the longest pause yet, but it was eventually broken with a 

“GRYFFINDOR”

When they hat came off Remus didn’t look scared anymore, but he didn’t look happy. His eyes were open wide like the hat had told him something terrifying. He got off the stool and headed to the Gryffindor table. Sirius had stood up on his chair to watch the sorting without an obstructed view and was now clapping furiously. The prefect beside him had to pull on his to make him sit. 

Soon after it was Peter’s turn. Peter was shaking and he tripped walking up which some people snickered at. James stared daggers at them till they stopped. Peter got a long pause too, but not as long as Remus’. 

“GRYFFINDOR!”  
Peter looked shocked but was smiling ear to ear and went to sot across from Remus and Sirius. 

One more student went before James, and he fidgeted the whole time knowing he was next. Bahaadur seemed unsure what to do as well. He had gone into his stag form and tapping his hoof steadily. James patted him to both comfort him and ground himself. 

“Potter, James.”

“YOU GOT THIS JAMES!”

James heard Sirius shout out as he walked up. The hall started snickering. 

James sat on the stool just in time to see Sirius get pulled down again but this time by Remus.

James at down and put the hat on. It went over his eyes making everything go dark and quiet, then a voice spoke in his head.

“Ah Potter.” A booming bright voce spoke to him, but not out loud in his head, bounding around in his skull.

“Yes, well no need to think about where you belong”

“Wait!” James thought and surprising he heard his own voice bounce around in his head.

“Yes?” The voice asked sounding interested.

“Ummm, If you were made by Gryffindor then is this his voice?” James asked. It had just got to him that this hat was made by his hero, and this was probably the only chance he would have to ask it anything.

The hat laughed out loud in his head. “Oh you are a true fan Mr. Potter. It is indeed… GRYFFFINDOR!”

The last word was shouted out to the hall and followed by applause, and loud wolf whistles and barks James assumed where Sirius and Fid. James took of the hat bright eyed. There was no doubt his hero was Godric Gryffindor.

Peter

Peter was flabbergasted he got into Gryffindor. The hat had first thought to put him in Hufflepuff, and although Peter loved the idea of being in Hufflepuff he couldn’t help but think of the fact all 3 of the friends he had made, his first friends ever, were in Gryffindor. This made the hat pause enough for Peter to promise to be braver if he could be in Gryffindor. The hat had laughed but didn’t sound mean more amused. “You have already started” the hat had said before shouting “GRYFFINDOR!”

Now he got to sit beside 3 friends who looked so happy to be together. 

“This is the best thing ever! All of us together! We’re going to be the best Gryffindors to ever walk through this school.”

And in this moment Peter felt that James was probably on to something. 

When the feast appeared Aspecta clambered out of his pocket and began reaching for a buttered bun. Peter loaded his plate with a little of everything. The food was the best thing he had ever eaten and that was saying something since he was already full on candy from earlier. He still managed 2 plates and 2 desserts before giving up.

When the plates cleared Dumbledore stood up and addressed everyone. He introduced the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor. Nettles. Then some notices. Stay out of the forest, no banned items, and a apparently new rule to avoid a newly planted Whomping Willow “unless one wants to meet a painful end.” A student beside him whispered to her friend.

“Why would they want a Whomping Willow. Are they mad?”

Peter once heard about Whomping Willows in a stories he read, and if what he knew was true he agreed.

Finally, they were told to head off to bed and the whole hall started to get up slowly heading for the giant oak doors. Two prefects called them over and told them to wait with them so they could head back together. James and Sirius had started poking each other in their full stomachs when a shadow fell over the four of them. 

“Mr. Lupin can you please come with me?” Professor McGonagall asked and started towards to doors. 

Peter went to ask Remus what was happening, but Remus was already following her. 

“Why do they need to see him. We haven’t been here 3 hours” James said sounding outraged that Remus had been taken.

“I’m sure it’s fine, it’s Remus there’s no way he did anything bad”

James nodded but didn’t look convinced. But that had now gotten them on the subject of pranks and they began quietly planning all the things they could do now they were in the same house.

Remus

Professor McGonagall led him down some halls and a staircase until they reached a large set of doors in the middle of a hallway. She opened the doors and he followed her in. They were in the hospital wing. The wing was pretty large at least 2 sets of hospital beds where set up in two rows each flagged by tall frosted windows. The placed smelled of clean sheets, and the strong thick sent of brewing potions. Remus scrunched his nose. His sense of smell was stronger than the average human and the potion currently bubbling in the cauldron at the far end on a desk smelled strongly of wolfsbane. It made his nose and eyes burn and his breathing to become fiery so that he coughed a few times.

The matron came out of her office to their right and quickly came over. She was older with a stern face that had warm kind eyes that gazed at him up and down as if assessing his vitals by just looking. Her daemon was a small Orangutan that had the same warm caring eyes. He immediately went over and asses Ilueda with concern.

“Oh dear you have a cold” She said running over and pulling out her want and tapping it to his head. Nothing happened and she looked confused.

“It’s not a cold ma’am just the potion” Remus coughed out trying not to sound disrespectful of the matron’s potion brewing.

“Oh the wolfsbane in it put in this morning. I am a fool.” She said walking over and turning off the burner underneath.

“Let’s talk down there then Poppy” McGonagall suggested.

“Good idea” The matron replied and the 3 of them headed out. This time they walked out onto the grounds. But not through the entrance hall, through the back of the castle. They came out into a courtyard that led down the steep hill that was a little overrun with weeds and long grasses. 

Far down the hill they passed a small hut with a giant pumpkin patch. They kept going till they got close to the lake, there Remus saw it. A giant Whomping Willow close to the edge of the Dark Forest. Near it the large game keeper Hagrid was waiting his big boarhound dog holding a lamp in its mouth for light now that the sun was set. 

“Remus this is Madam Pomfrey. She is our matron and will be taking care of you before and after the full moon. This is Rubeus Hagrid our assistant Game keeper, who will be watching over the Willow during the full moon from his hut.”

Remus nodded. He knew the plan but was still worried it might be too dangerous. Hagrid was big and probably could stop a wolf from killing him, but Remus would feel so bad if that ever happened. Not to mention even if Hagrid survived how far would he still get before he ran into someone else. 

“I can assure you Mr. Lupin your safety will be 100% safe in this place. Under the willow there is a tunnel. It leads directly into Hogsmeade. To an old abandoned house far from the village. Dumbledore himself as well as a few professors have put every ward imaginable on the building. Not to mention the boards that were installed on the windows and doors. There is no possibility of you getting out or anyone getting in.” 

Remus nodded again. She sounded genuine in their efforts to keep people safe from him, he could only hope it worked. At home his father locked him in the cellar. It was stone and concrete all the way around with no windows and door, just a silver trap door that was covered by a large crate on the other side.

“On the day of the full moon you will arrive at the Hospital Wing immediately after classes. You will report to Madam Pomfrey and will eat in the hospital wing. 2 hours before sundown you will walk down to the willow with Madam Pomfrey who will let you into the willow. Once inside you will walk until you reach a trap door. Once up through it and inside the house you will be free to transform safely. Madam Pomfrey will arrive back to help you to the castle after sunrise. Do you understand?”

Remus nodded again. 

“Very well I will now take you up to Gryffindor tower.”


	3. First day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes through their first day at Hogwarts

Remus

Remus was the first one to wake up the next morning. Ileuda was curled up on his chest and glared at him angrily when he sat up and she tumbled on top of the bedsheets. He opened his bed curtains and surveyed the dorm. t was small and the other three beds had their curtains drawn shut still. Remus could hear the sounds of snoring coming from Peter and James’s beds. Orange sunlight spilled into the room, the sun was just showing up. He stretched and heard both his shoulder pop. He was sore today, which as expected the full moon was now 6 days away. He tiptoed barefoot to the bathroom. He quickly washed up and got ready. Ileuda also washed herself up using the sink to wet her little paws and wipe them on her face. 

Tiptoeing back to the dorm he was relieved to see everyone was still fast asleep, so he took the opportunity to quickly get dressed. He changed his shirt as quickly as possible not even wanting to risk someone seeing the scars that covered his chest and back. By the time he was putting on his socks James’ curtains had begun to rustle, and by the time he had his bag on and was tying his trainers James stumbled out blurry eyes without glasses heading to the bathroom. 

The common room downstairs was practically empty. Only two upper year students were up sitting by the fire chatting quietly. Remus headed straight down to the Great Hall since his stomach was rumbling.

The Great Hall was also sparsely occupied. Only the gamekeepers, and a large porky professor with bushy moustache were up at the head table. Two Slytherins were sitting far apart at their table, a group of three Hufflepuff girls were sitting giggling, and then one other person at the Gryffindor table. When Remus got closer, he saw it was the red-headed girl from yesterday. She looked sad as she poked her scrambled eggs with her fork. Remus decided to go and see what was up.

He sat down across from her and began filling his plate with bacon and filling his mug with some spicy smelling tea that was out.

“Good morning. Lily was it?” He asked when she looked up. 

She stared at him for a second with a straight face and slightly squinted eyes. She was obviously deciding how to respond. Remus had forgotten about the fight James sand Sirius had started in the compartment, and she probably was deciding if he was to blame too. 

“I’m Remus” Remus said extending his hand to her. “Sorry I didn’t introduce myself properly yesterday. Kind of nerve wracking coming to Hogwarts.” Remus continued trying to convince Lily he wasn’t being malicious.

She reached out and shook his hand back then went back to poking her eggs solemnly. 

“It’s ok. I was nervous to come too” She said. On her shoulder her mourning dove daemon let out a mournful sounding sigh.

Beside him Ileuda laid her head in his lap. Remus pet her softly. Obviously, something was up making this girl sad, he felt bad for her, but he didn’t want to be nosy and intrusive, so he decided to try and change the subject. 

“You excited for any particular class?”

Lily looked up and smiled faintly.

“Ya, I’m excited for potions. My friend Severus lent me a potions book on rare ingredients before I got my letter and I got really interested.”

Remus smiled; he honestly wasn’t fond of potions. At home his dad had stopped brewing since the smells affected him so strongly. Even if his office door was closed the fumes still seemed to spill out under the door and make him feel ill.  
However, his mother would take him out a in the forest behind their house and he would help her pick stuff to eat for dinner, mustards, herbs and berries. Occasionally his dad would come and point out magical plants. Sometimes they would pick they for healing potions. One time they found a wand tree on their property deep in the forest. His dad had pulled out a handful of rice and placed it at the bottom of the tree. Then they stood back quietly behind and watched as a bunch of bowtruckels came down from the canopy to eat the rice. He was young then and seeing the little twig creatures had been a magical moment. 

“So did you use to pick potion ingredients with your family?” Remus asked.

“Oh umm no. My family is muggle. But I went out with my friend quite a bit. He used to brew potions in his bedroom. I don’t think my sister would have liked that very much” The last sentence she said with her nose scrunched up a bit. Her dove daemon ruffled its feathers at the mention of their sister. Then it flew up in the air and turned into a monarch butterfly and landed in Lily’s hair.

“My mom’s a muggle. She doesn’t understand potions. She thinks it’s silly to brew a potion for a sore throat when you can just drink some ginger tea.” Remus said trying to keep Lily in conversation now that it seemed to be cheering her up.

Lily chuckled a little. “It is a little silly isn’t it. So what classes are you looking forward too.”

“Oh history of magic sounds fun. I read the text book twice already. Plus, I found a book on the Goblin rebellion of 1419 that I started reading.”

With that they started talking about how they thought school here would work. She had apparently been to a public muggle school, and she was worried Hogwarts would be different. Remus himself had never been to school before. His mom and dad taught him from home. They moved a lot because of his condition, and his dad was worried about people realising that he disappeared every month around the full moon, only to come back injured. So, He was really excited to start school like a regular person. 

They continued talking about wizard history till the hall started to get busy. Lily had also read Hogwarts: A History and they started to compared notes when James and Sirius came into the hall. James was tying his new Gryffindor tie as he came in trying to straighten his clothes, which he obviously put on with little effort. Sirius however had just thrown on whatever was probably lying on the top of his trunk and didn’t seem to care. His tie hung untied around his neck, his shirt was opened at the top, and his robe was thrown over his shoulder, everything very wrinkly. This only thing that was done properly was his neatly brushed hair pulled back with a striking red and gold ribbon. This was in contrast to James whose hair looked even more of a rat’s nest than yesterday. They sat down with Lily and him and Lily immediately dropped her niceties and turned to Sirius who sat down beside her. 

“I don’t remember asking you two to join us” 

James paused but Sirius stayed calm and ignored her. 

“Good because I don’t remember asking.” He simply said filling his plate with eggs and toast.

Lily glared daggers at Sirius. Remus thought she was about to hit the guy so he decided to step in.

“Lily this is Sirius and James. You may be confused since they forgot to introduce themselves like regular human beings.” Remus said to Lily while stepping discretely on James’s toes. 

James got the message and sat up straight and turned to Lily. 

“I’m James.” Remus pressed harder on James toes. He winced and continued “Sorry for that um…kerfuffle yesterday”

Lily didn’t respond. She just glared angrily at him. Sirius who was sitting beside her snorted at the word ‘kerfuffle’ and then coughed a bit since he chocked on his mouth full of eggs. Some went flying from his mouth onto his plate. She shot him a disgusted look and James started laughing out loud at Sirius which caused milk to splatter out of his mouth, which caused Sirius to laugh and a disgusting feedback loop of chewed food. 

“You are both disgusting” She said out loud and shuffled further away from them.

Thankfully the post decided to arrive just then, stopping further bickering. The hall filled with owls carrying letters and packages to students. Remus looked up and saw a giant eagle owl land on James’s shoulder. The owl was huge, and very regal in the way it looked. It promptly held out its leg to let James untie the large package attached to it. 

“Forgot some stuff. Oh, look mom sent cookies” James said reaching in the box.

Remus was so caught up admiring James’s eagle he didn’t notice his family owl until it nipped at his hand. 

“Sorry Toffee” He said taking the letter from the little burrowing owl. He ruffled her feathers and gave one cautious look at James shoulder where his owl was now swallowing a whole boiled egg before taking off again. 

Remus opened his letter.

_Son,_

_I hope all went well on your way to Hogwarts. Your mother and I are already missing you terribly, as well as worrying about you. Last night we had Cottage pie only because it was your favourite meal, and your mother felt bad about not making you some before you left. She’s worried they might not feed you well enough so she’s planning on baking a bunch of things to send. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the Hogwarts house elves are probably the best cooks in Britain. I’ll have to wait to send the sweets until I go to Diagon alley, since muggle post won’t reach you and I will need to borrow a heftier owl. I would have sent some, but poor Toffee wouldn’t have been able to make the journey._

_The school has an owlery which you should be able to send letters through instead of having Toffee fly across the country. I’m sure your first day will be busy, but if you could take the time to write home today and let us know how you are doing it would make both me and your mother feel better._

_Study hard and keep your head down,_

_Dad_

Remus smiled at the letter. He missed his parents too and appreciated the letter. He made a note to visits the owlery before the end of the day to tell his parents where he was sorted. 

“Do you know how to use the muggle post?” James asked. Remus turned to see him looking over his shoulder. He quickly folded the letter and put it away.

“Ya, I use to send my grandmother letters all the time until she died. A little slower than owl post though.”

“That’s so cool. So how do stamps work then?” James asked with wide eyes and apparent interest. It was now Lily’s turn to snort in laughter. James shrank a bit at the laughing. Sirius chose then to but in and save James from further embarrassment.

“Given me a cookie Potter” Sirius said getting up and leaning across the table to reach for the box James was going through and putting in his bag.

“No! You Freeloader!” 

Remus moved over a little just like Lily to avoid the fighting that ensued, where Sirius grabbed the box and James tried to wrestle it back. 

“I feel sorry that you have to live with them” Lily said to him. 

Remus smiled and was about to say that they weren’t that bad when a stray owl flew over them and dropped a red scarlet envelope in between James and Sirius. They both stopped moving immediately looking at it frightened. Everyone around them also stopped and stared at the letter too.

Neither James or Sirius reached out to pick it up both acting like any quick. Movements might make it explode. Remus leaned over to see in emerald green ink the name on the front in large cursive letter.

Sirius Arcturus Black III

“You better run mate” A redhead beside James said. His twin brother across the table nodded.

“What is it?” Lily asked. Remus too was wondering the same thing.

Then the letter started steaming violently. 

“Too late” James said backing away from the letter. Sirius too sat down leaned away. The letter exploded with a thunderous bang scorching the table. Then a voice boomed around the hall making all the other students who hadn’t notice the letter stop and turn to see the commotion. 

“SIRIUS BLACK! HOW DARE YOU BRING HUMILIATION UPON THE NOBEL HOUSE FOR WHICH YOU REPRESENT. CONSORTING WITH MUDBLOODS AND TRAITORS! YOU HAVE BROUGHT BOTH ME AND YOUR FATHER TO SHAME, YOUR ANCESTORS SHALL ROLL IN THEIR GRAVES!” Sirius kept a blank face but continued to stare down at the black burnt mark on the table where the letter was emanating sound. His eyes lost all the sparkle they had just moments ago, instead becoming grey haze. The voice was shrill with a thick French accent similar to Sirius’s, but this was posher. It out like thundering and making his ears ring with pain.

YOU WLL FIX THIS EMBARESSMENT IMMDEIDALTY OR THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES!”

And with that final note the hall fell silent. Sirius stayed still and everyone kept watching him.

“All right you lot mind your beeswax” One of the redhead twins said out loud scolding everyone watching. Slowly people went back to their breakfasts.

“Alright mate” James asked quietly.

Sirius shook his head as if coming out of a trance. 

“Ya. Of course.” He said sounding as if nothing had happened. “Lovely women my mother, real charmer” Sirius joked. James made a little snort of laughter which was what Sirius must have been going for because he began reaching for the cookies again. 

Remus felt a little off. He had only heard about how some pureblood families were prejudice, but he thought Sirius might not have been from one of those families. He was so nice, maybe he didn’t know he was a half blood. But then again Sirius didn’t sound like he agreed with his family the way he just joked about his mom. Remus thought he would just wait and see how the day went with Sirius now knowing he was probably a half blood with James asking about the muggle post.

McGonagall was now going around handing out schedules down the Gryffindor table. Remus looked around. 

“Where Peter?”

“Damn. I know we forgot something” James said standing up with Sirius and heading out of the hall.

Peter

The first day of classes had gone slowly. The first class they had was charms. Professor Flitwick was a short man with a high pitch voice and a goldfinch for a daemon talked for a bit then set them up to practice levitation feathers. This meant that they could talk with each other for most of the class. 

This seemed to both be a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that everyone was so occupied with their own little groups they didn’t notice that Peter wasn’t able to even make his feather twitch. The downside was that everyone was talking about one thing. The howler Sirius Black had gotten. The story James and Sirius had told him when they woke him up hadn’t been complete, but from the rumours he was overhearing he didn’t blame Sirius for not wanting to talk about it. 

Sirius however seemed bothered about the howler, he only seemed worried about one particular thing.

“They all think I’m some sort of loony blood purists now” Sirius said glaring at two Ravenclaw girls who were whispering behind them while looking over at Sirius. When James looked back at them and narrowed his eyes, they stopped whispering

“Forget them.” James said turning back to his feather and making it soar up effortlessly. James and Sirius both got the spell on the first try. Remus had taken a few tries but had eventually got it. 

Peter turned back to his feather and tired again. Nothing. 

“Here” Remus said reaching out and getting his attention. “Try a more flicking wrist thing. Like this”

Remus demonstrated. He tried again using Remus’s movement. The feather in front of him twitched up but didn’t get very far. 

“More flick, less swish”

Peter tried again and felt the magic move out from his arm to his wand. The feather raised a little bit up to eye level and slowly fell back down.

“Amazing work Mr. Pettigrew” Professor Flitwick said coming over to check on everyone. 

The rest of the day was uneventful. In Herbology they just went over safety rules. Most of which James and Sirius did not pay attention for. They spent most of the class secretly levitating potting soil into some blonde Hufflepuffs school bag. When the boy went to reach for his notebook to write down the readings for next class, the boy was pissed but couldn’t find the culprit. It took everything for them not to burst out laughing when he went to open his quill case to find that also filled with soil. 

“Beautiful touch with the quill case Black” James aid as they headed to lunch. 

After lunch was a double period of History of Magic. After the initial shock of Professor Binns who to their surprise was a ghost coming out of the chalk board the lesson got boring. Binns droned on reading from his notes about some sort of Goblin legislator formed on the 1600’s and most of the class fell off to sleep within the first hour. Eventually James was full on sleeping. Sirius was playing tic tac toe lazily with him on a spare bit of parchment. The girls sitting in front of them were braiding their hair and drawing doodles on their notes. The only person who seemed to be listening was Remus, who was diligently listening and taking notes. 

By the time diner time arrived Peter was exhausted. Thankfully the amazing smell of the food in the hall woke him right up. Aspecta even ended her long nap and crawled out of his pocket landing on the floor as a racoon before getting up beside him at the table. 

The girls also came to join them for dinner.

There was Marlene McKinnon and her Squirrel daemon Avita, Mary McDonald and her ginger cat daemon Wholright, Dorcas Meadowes and her snail daemon Reunter, and Lily Evans, who Peter remembered from the train. Lily didn’t seem happy to sit with them but followed her friends anyway. She however sat beside Remus as far from James and Sirius as she could, and only talked to him for the duration of the meal. 

It wasn’t until desert something interesting happened. The greasy guy named Severus came over to their table and tapped Lily on the shoulder. He had a straight face on but Peter could feel the contempt coming off of him being this close to James and Sirius, who he kept shooting angry glances at. Thankfully they were both too engrossed in their conversation to even notice him.

“Hey Sev. What’s up? Sit down with us”

Severus looked at the group with disgust then shook his head.

“No thank you. I was actually wondering if you wanted to come to the owlery with me”

“Sure. Sounds fun I can send a letter to Tuney” She said standing up. Her butterfly flew around her head happily. “Remus don’t you have a letter to send as well”

Remus looked up too. “Oh yes. I’ll come with you.” Remus said standing up.

Severus gave him a look that said very clearly that Severus didn’t want Remus to come, but Lily smiled at Remus and him so Severus made a forced smile that disappeared as soon as Lily and Remus turned to head out. 

“Ugh. He’s so creepy. No wonder he’s in Slytherin” James said beside him looking at where Remus, Lily and Severus had exited. 

“Speaking of creepy Slytherins” Sirius said pointing over James’s shoulder to a blonde witch in Slytherin robes walking towards the Gryffindor table. She was slender and blonde, with perfect posture. She seemed to look down on everyone she walked by even though she couldn’t have been past 4th year herself. Her daemon was a pale white snake with red eyes that had wrapped itself tight around her neck like a scaly choker necklace. 

“Who’s that” Peter asked.

“My bossy cousin”

She stopped in front of Sirius and cleared her throat. Sirius however rolled his eyes and went back to his pudding. 

“What do you want Sissy?”

Sissy, the girl looked down at Sirius with a sympathetic look. 

“Aunt Walburga has asked I talk to you in private. The girl said. She had the same French accent Sirius had, but it sounded softer and more polished like Sirius’s mom. 

“Whatever the old bag has to say she can say it herself. She obviously has no problem telling the world” 

“Sirius please. Don’t be a child”

“Whatever you have to say you can say it here”

“Sirius you know I can’t, now come along.” She turned gracefully her carefully braided hair whipping around her back as she walked away. 

Sirius sighed dramatically then stood up.

“Duty calls apparently” He said sarcastically. “If I go missing, I leave noting to no one”, and with that he stalked off after the girl.

Sirius

Sirius was apathetic about whatever it was Sissy wanted, although he had a good idea what this was about. However, if his mom had contacted her it probably wasn’t good news. They wanted someone and Sissy loved being the bearer of bad news. She was always the goody two shoes, always tattling on him. She was even worse than Regulus.

When they got into the entryway Sissy led him towards the dungeons where it was quiet and no students were walking nearby. She put her hand on his arm and made Sirius walk alongside her. Maybe it would be a nice gesture if it wasn’t for what followed.

“Aunt Walburga and Uncle Orion have asked me to pass on the families remedy to your…. Indiscretion.”

“Ya? and what’s that?” Sirius asked trying to keep the hostility out of his tone.

“That you will remain in Gryffindor only if you can agree not to consort with half bloods and mud bloods. Gryffindor is full of them, and you will not allow them to taint your reputation.”

“My reputation?”

“Yes, your reputation, because whether you like it or not you are the heir to the house of Black, and therefore what you do will reflect on the whole family”

“I don’t care about this stupid blood nonsense” Sirius said pulling away from Sissy feeling annoyed.

“It is not nonsense Sirius, It is very much the opposite. The Blacks are the most powerful of the sacred 28. What we do sets the course for the future of our families. We can’t let lesser wizards work their way into our ranks and taken it down, like a disease slowly killing the tree from the inside out.”

“What a load of ….”

“Sirius. This is not a joke, and this wasn’t a request. Uncle Orion was clear. You are not to consort with anyone who isn’t a pureblood. If other families saw the Black heir consorting with filth, they’ll think our family is weak. Andromeda and I are to make sure you listen, it’s not just your head on the chopping block Sirius.”

“Fine. Is that all” Sirius said now inpatient. 

“Yes” Sissy said with a forced calm voice.

“Good” and with that Sirius stormed off.

James

“Mate, where were you?” James asked when he came into the dorm. Sirius was laying on his bed staring at the ceiling. Fid was currently back to snake form, he wound around the bed post slithering up. 

“I came right back up. Didn’t feel like finishing desert”

“Huh. Want to talk about it?” James said sitting down beside him on the bed. Bahadurr morphed into a kestrel and flew up onto the top of the bed and looked down at Fid head moving side to side regarding him.

“Just family stuff”

“Something tells me family stuff isn’t normal family stuff.”

Sirius just grunted in agreement. James laid back on the bed with him.

It was quiet for a bit. They both just listened to the sounds of the win blowing around the tower and the sound of people chattering down in the common room and in the stairwell. 

“Sissy told me I wasn’t allowed to hang around muggle born and half blood. Said it would make the Blacks look weak or something.” Sirius said it low as if someone might overhear them even though they were alone in the room.

James just grunted out loud. He wasn’t surprised. He knew how most pureblood families thought. That was exactly the reason why his mother and father kept clear of them.

“It’s so stupid” Was all Sirius said after a long pause. James could tell Sirius was deep in thought. James waited a bit before speaking up. 

“My dad says that wizards would be extinct if we didn’t marry muggles.” 

James jumped up as Sirius started cackling like a mad man. James didn’t know what to do so he waited for Sirius to stop laughing and sat up beside him on the bed. 

“I think your dad is right. Maybe my families too inbred to think properly. Either that or their heads are so far up their arses they can’t see past their gloomy manors and stuffy social groups”

“You know what I think.” James said and Sirius turned to him attentive to hear what James had to say. “I think bugger the lot of them. You’re a Gryffindor now.”


End file.
